Musical Poetry
by Basiliskfire
Summary: Sela McGrane asked what would happen if Minerva was a rockstar and the idea would not leave me. So I threw caution to the wind and dipped my toes into the fanfiction writing pool. Sincere thanks to Lara De Banks who volunteered to beta this first foray into fanfiction. Thanks to her helpfulness I felt confident enough to publish this.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Merlin's wrinkly testicles" the curse followed the flung parchment and quill across the room. The beautiful melody in the background doing nothing to convince the owner of the voice that things were not so dire after all.

"Why the hell is it so difficult this time? A mutter followed the curse word.

Minerva McGonagall, esteemed Headmistress of Hogwarts school of magic, sighed with frustration as she put away the empty scroll and pulled the piles of paperwork on her desk closer to at least engage in some productive work to show for her afternoon.

Steadily working through the pile, becoming more and more frustrated at the asinine requests from the Ministry of Magic, her hand grasped next month's edition of the Quibbler. The note attached indicated that the editor, Xeno Lovegood, would like her to edit the facts on transfiguration in the article before he printed the copy.

Feeling that the exercise would be a welcome break from her administrative duties, Minerva set about editing the surprisingly accurate article. Wondering who the author was, her glance fell on a poem published on the previous page written by an anonymous poet. Amazed at how the poet reached her emotions, she suddenly found herself humming the tune she was listening to earlier, fitting the words to the melody.

Inspiration struck. Since she was experiencing a creative drought, the possibility of collaborating with the poet may help her reach the deadline for her next studio album. How she found herself in such a pickle she didn't know. The composing of the music rushed through her veins, and yet she couldn't write a single lyric to fit the notes. And time was running out fast.

Without much further deliberation she prepared a scroll and sent a request to Xeno to put her in contact with the poet as she had a business proposition for her. Including the request to also remain anonymous, providing only information she deemed relevant and which would most likely pique the poet's interest, she added the address of her muggle postal details for further communication if she were to receive a positive response.

She returned the copy of the Quibbler as well with her suggested edits and remarked how thoughtful and learned the author seemed. She paused at the thought of asking him why the Quibbler was featuring an article on Transfiguration, thinking about the entertaining way the author seemed to present the discipline to the layman. She had no doubt that she would have more interested students after the article was published. Despite the easy tone of the article the author had been at pains to stress the required commitment needed to follow the discipline. She wished she knew who the anonymous author was.

Using one of her family owls, rather than a Hogwarts owl she sent the bird to Xeno.

Minerva had a rather interesting way of dealing with the demands and stress of her daily job. Since she had first stumbled on a Fender guitar in a small shop in muggle London, she has been writing, playing and singing for years, enjoying the pleasure she derived from an activity few in the wizard world associated with her. While performing at a muggle pub, she was contracted to a music company to represent her. She was happy to perform and release albums, for as long as she remained anonymous and only produced studio albums, no tours or live performances to protect her identity.

Usually she had no problem producing an album each two years, but with recent events in the wizarding world it seemed that her muse had left her.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Hermione Granger finished reading the letter from Xeno. Thoughtfully she considered the request he put forward. It surprised her that Xeno encouraged her to seriously consider the proposal from the unknown sender. Opening the second parchment she had received she quickly scanned the contents, before putting it aside for closer inspection after she had finished the current task she was working on.

After two hours of research on the next topic she wanted to cover in her series on Transfiguration for the Quibbler, she finally felt satisfied with the work she had done. She was taken aback when Xeno had approached her to do the series that had immediately appealed to her innate desire to share knowledge with others. Luna had recommended Hermione to her father, believing that the readership of the Quibbler would be receptive to such articles.

As for the poetry, she had submitted the poems in a whim on a day she had felt extremely courageous and was taken aback by the positive response she received. As her submissions helped to improve the circulation, Xeno was happy to publish her literary efforts as well. The suddenly unexpected healthy competition with the Daily Prophet was another positive factor as far as he was concerned. Hermione also enjoyed the subtle snub she was giving the Prophet, especially after the way the publication had treated her during her years at Hogwarts. In the aftermath of the Battle of Hogwarts, they remained unkind to her, despite her status as a member of the Golden Trio, a title she abhorred. Downplaying her role during the war and elevating that of Harry and Ron did not bother her if they had allowed her to simply move into the background and continued her studies. However, due to the poisonous pen of Rita Skeeter, she was slandered mercilessly because she was close to Harry and Ron. Hermione carried out her threat and exposed Rita as an unregistered animagus, but not before the damage was done and Hermione had to face negative public opinion especially from jealous witches who believed Rita's lies about her relationship with her best friends. The irony did not escape Hermione's notice, because if Rita had done her research properly, she would have known that Hermione was a lesbian, who had discreet trysts in muggle London.

Sitting on her couch, a glass of firewhiskey on the side table, Hermione summoned the parchment she had set aside earlier to her hand. She opened it and read the contents with growing interest. This could work, she mused. A mutual agreement of anonymity, despite the necessity of exchanging a certain amount of personal information to facilitate the collaboration process. Using a muggle postal address for communication was another safeguard to their identities. She read the letter again:

Dear Poet

I would not be so presumptive to assume you are familiar with my work, but I am a moderately successful musician in the muggle world. I produce a studio album every two years, which seems to satisfy my fan base. I do not do public performances or grant public interviews.

At present, I am due to release my next album, and I have encountered an unfamiliar stumbling block. While I am producing the music melodies rather prolifically, I find that I am unable to write the lyrics to the songs. Upon reading your poem in the Quibbler I was astounded how easily I put your poem to a tune that I had just composed. I have included the current version at the end of this letter, which a simple Revealio-spell will release.

I believe that if you were willing to collaborate with me, by providing lyrics to my melodies, we can form a business partnership that is beneficial to both of us.

As you would have gathered I would like to keep my wizarding identity secret, but I would entrust you with my muggle name for purposes of communication. As you published your poetry anonymously, I would think that you would like to keep your identity unknown as well. It will be necessary for us to share some personal details to ensure that the collaboration is most effective, but I believe it not to be an insurmountable problem. I, therefore, propose that we correspond via the muggle postal address I have supplied.

This musical endeavour is my hobby, and I do not play for the financial rewards that my hobby provides. I am happy to have you receive the profits made from the album as recompense for your contribution the album. I am sure a contract can be drawn up to protect your interest in this undertaking.

I am looking forward to reading your response to this offer.

Yours sincerely

Musical Muggle

PO Box 92631

London

N1P 2AL

"Yes," Hermione thought. This could work. She loved the arrangement of her poem, surprised that it was one that was yet to appear in print as the Quibbler was only to be released next week. The fact that Xeno recommended this musician also was a positive contributor to her decision. It also did not hurt that Rockstar Muggle was her favourite musician, and she owned all her albums already. She sat back and thought about all that she had learned about this elusive musician in that single letter she had received.


End file.
